It is widely understood that the global economy has become increasingly interconnected over the last century, with especially rapid globalization trends for 20 years starting in the 1990s. That trend continued even through the COVID-19 pandemic, when countries were forced to close their doors and many supply chains were disrupted. However, new Brookings Papers on Economic Activity research by Pinelopi Goldberg and Tristan Reed uses trade, capital flow, and immigration to show that there has been a slowing in globalization beginning around 2015. In this conversation, recorded in March 2022, the authors joined Brookings Senior Fellow Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti for a discussion on their findings and the outlook for globalization going forward. Show notes and transcript: https://bit.ly/3MkYdnP The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected]

The Inflation Reduction Act is the largest piece of climate legislation ever passed in the U.S. The bill's incentives will affect the entire energy sector, from producers of raw materials to end-use consumers. BPEA paper co-author Neil Mehrotra, assistant vice president and policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, speaks with Sanjay Patnaik about the bill's policy implications. Show notes and transcript: https://bit.ly/40Be1GB The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected]

In addition to large fiscal packages, governments around the world utilized credit market interventions to support their economies during the pandemic. However, the impact and importance of these policies has not been fully analyzed. Gee Hee Hong of the IMF and Deborah Lucas of MIT approach this problem in their new BPEA paper, and they discuss their findings on this episode of the Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity with Wendy Edelberg of The Hamilton Project. Show notes and transcript: https://bit.ly/41oIDfA The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected]

The COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments were not the first time the federal government has provided fiscal support to Americans during a crisis, but they did have a different purpose. The goal wasn’t to stimulate the economy but rather to offer “pandemic insurance”—money to pay bills and buy food for people who may have lost income due to the pandemic. In the latest episode of the Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity, Hamilton Project Director Wendy Edelberg and MIT finance professor Jonathan A. Parker discuss Parker’s recent BPEA study on how those payments were spent (or not spent) and the on-going impact on the economy. Show notes and transcript: https://brook.gs/3zv6rmi The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected]

A strong U.S. dollar reflects economic and political strength for the United States. But a new study published in the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity illustrates how a strong dollar might not be good for other countries, especially emerging and developing markets. On this episode of the Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity, Brookings Senior Fellow Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti interviews the authors of that study, Maurice Obstfeld of UC Berkeley and Haonan Zhou of Princeton University. Obstfeld and Zhou explain what’s driving the stronger dollar, why it might hurt emerging markets, and policies those emerging markets can use to become more resilient to dollar appreciation shocks. Show notes and transcript: https://brook.gs/3V8KjqT The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected]